


Solidarity

by Johannas_Motivational_Insults



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, short hair adora, this is the haircut fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24782803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johannas_Motivational_Insults/pseuds/Johannas_Motivational_Insults
Summary: Adora makes a big change in an effort to make Catra feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, she missed a kind of important step along the way.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 561





	Solidarity

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't my best work, but I wrote it in like a day and that's like insane for me so yeah. This idea latched on and wouldn't let go until I wrote it. This is based on a [Tumblr post](https://johannas-motivational-insults.tumblr.com/post/621114855933526016) I made, which was inspired by seeing [this comic](https://johannas-motivational-insults.tumblr.com/post/621099307631771648/eirastrid-ruminations-about-hair-and-lack) and [this art](https://twitter.com/Lava_Shots/status/1272952015983751168) close together (thanks to the ops!).
> 
> Rated T for mild sexual themes and a bit of language. This is sweet and just a lil' spicy.

Catra is bored. What else is new?

Flat on her back on the bed she shares with Adora, she stares at the ornate palace ceiling as she tosses a ball in the air over and over, flicking her wrist to make it spin. _Spin, catch, spin, catch, spin, catch._

Adora should be back from her dumb meeting by now, but instead Catra’s been lying here alone ever since she woke from her afternoon nap. She passed the grumpy stage of boredom a while ago, careening straight into restlessness. Sighing heavily, she protracts and retracts the claws on her free hand. Maybe she should go find Sparkles or Bow just for someone to annoy. If only she felt like getting up.

She’s just tossed the ball for about the billionth time when finally - finally! - she hears familiar footsteps in the hallway. A grin stretches across her face and she almost forgets to catch the ball before it beans her in the eye. But she’s not that clumsy, that’s Adora’s job.

When the door opens, Catra’s flopped on her stomach, looking even more bored than she actually was.

“Hey, Adora,” she grunts, lifting her head. And, huh. That’s Adora all right, but Catra can only see the lower half of her face past the hooded cloak she’s wearing. Curious. Her voice comes out less nonchalant than intended when she inquires, “Where’ve you been?”

“Uh,” Adora turns toward the wall, steadying herself with one hand as she peels off her boots, “just out in the market, you know?”

Pushing herself up on one arm, Catra cocks an eyebrow. “Get anything cool?”

Adora’s affected laughter pierces the air as she turns around, shaking her head. “No! Nooo, not at all. Just normal marketplace… stuff.”

Catra’s eyes narrow, studying her girlfriend as she fully sits up. “Why are you being so weird?”

“What?” protests Adora. She winces at the shrillness in her own voice. As Catra stands and starts to prowl closer, she turns her face away in a panic. “I’m not being weird.”

“You’re being weird,” insists Catra. “Just say whatever it is you need to say.”

“I-” Adora freezes mid-sentence, then relents with a sigh. “You’re right. Okay.” Taking a deep breath, she pulls down her hood to reveal her hair. Or lack thereof. 

Catra’s eyes just about pop out of her head. _“Whoa.”_

Adora’s signature golden tresses have been chopped short. Short like Catra’s. Shaggy like hers, too. It looks… amazing, actually.

Adora tries to smile, but it comes out more like a grimace. “Do you like it?”

Catra blinks hard. “I… yeah. Yeah, I do. It’s just… different.”

Hoping Catra’s lack of articulacy is a good thing, Adora chuckles sheepishly. “When I saw yours cut I was pretty shocked too. I mean, the whole brainwashing and glowing eyes thing was part of it, obviously, but-” She cuts herself off when she sees the panic rising in Catra’s eyes. “Shit, sorry! I didn’t mean… ugh.” Slapping her own face, she groans into her palm. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” mutters Catra, rubbing the back of her neck. And after a few deep breaths, she is fine. Mostly. Forcing a smirk, she inquires, “So, what brought this on? Jealous of my hot new haircut?”

“Uh, yeah kinda. Well, um,” Adora clears her throat, “solidarity, actually.” When Catra squints curiously, she loses all restraint and starts rambling. “I know you didn’t choose to have your hair cut, and maybe it feels lighter and all, like you said, but sometimes it seems like you miss your hair, and why wouldn’t you, it was a big part of how you expressed your individuality, you know?” Daring to catch Catra’s eye again, she concludes, “I just, I thought maybe if I cut mine too, it might make it easier for you. And make you less self-conscious. Now we match, you know.”

“Wow.” Catra nods slowly. “That’s… that was really thoughtful of you. Or,” her eyebrows furrow, “nice, anyway.”

Adora’s eyebrows arch in alarm. “Wait… nice, but not thoughtful?”

“It’s just, uh…” Catra scratches behind her ear, avoiding her gaze.

Adora squints. “What?”

Pinching her brow, Catra sighs into her hand and tries to organize her thoughts. It takes a moment. Finally she drops her hand with a chuckle, raising a pointed eyebrow as she spells out, “You wanted to make me feel better about Prime cutting my hair without asking… by cutting your own hair for me without asking me how I felt about it? Like asking if it would actually make me feel any better?”

“Oh!” Adora’s eyes bulge. “Sorry, I didn’t… well, I wanted to surprise you.”

Eyes falling to her twiddling claws, Catra mumbles, “I don’t really like surprises.”

“Oh,” says Adora, quieter this time. “Yeah, okay. That makes sense.”

Adora’s hand moves to brush through her hair, a nervous habit, only to encounter a gaping void. She fingers the shorn edges self-consciously, frowning into her shoulder. Gods, she’s such an idiot! How could she make such a stupid mistake? And it’s not like this is one she can undo, either. Now every time Catra sees her she’s gonna be reminded of her trauma, and now she won’t be able to stand being around her, and she’s ruined everything, as us-

“Hey.” A gentle word and hand on her cheek breaks that spiral, bringing Adora’s attention back to Catra. She’s stepped a little closer, looking up at Adora with a softness that could calm even the harshest storms of her thoughts.

“Look, I’m not mad at you,” Catra assures her, rubbing a comforting thumb back and forth across her cheek. “And I didn’t mean I don’t like the hair, either. It’s not what I’m used to, but it actually looks really good on you. It’s, uh...” Feeling her face starting to heat up, she ducks it into her collar. “It’s really handsome.”

“Yeah?” Adora asks hopefully, a warm feeling rising in her chest to combat the anxiety. Catra nods and she sighs in relief. “You too. I mean, obviously. You’re hot either way, don’t get me wr-”

“Shut up, Adora,” mutters Catra, stepping in and wrapping her up in her arms. She squeezes tight, which she knows from experience is what Adora needs right now. After a few seconds Adora relaxes in the embrace, forehead tipping forward to rest on Catra’s shoulder. Her back slumps a little in the process and Catra lets her arms drift up to encircle her shoulders. A long, heavy sigh into the crook of her neck, and Adora’s arms are snaking around her waist. Finally she straightens up and they settle into a proper hug.

Hand grazing over the back of Adora’s head, Catra purrs and nuzzles into her neck. “Thank you. This was really sweet of you. And it does make me feel better about my own hair.”

Adora’s voice comes out small. “Really?”

“Yeah, really,” says Catra, tilting Adora’s chin to the side to catch her eye. “I only brought it up because we’re trying to be better about talking about stuff when it comes up instead of bottling it up, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” murmurs Adora, eyes sliding away as she idly rubs the back of Catra’s ear. She’s doing it to soothe her own nerves as much as to comfort Catra, but Catra doesn’t need to know that.

“I love it, I just wish you’d talked to me about it first. You have a habit of not doing that… assuming what I’ll think or like, you know?”

Adora grimaces at the familiar criticism, and how true it is. “Like assuming you’d want to leave the Horde with me.”

“Yeah, like that,” mutters Catra.

Chuckling self-consciously, Adora sweeps a loose lock of her bangs back from her eyes. This will take some getting used to. “It’s funny,” she muses, “I’m trying to be better about those things, it just didn’t occur to me that this could be one of them. But I guess that’s the problem.”

Next thing she knows, Catra’s gripping her chin and pressing a firm kiss to her lips. The shock and pleasure of it all makes her stand there slack-jawed, barely managing to kiss back. But she enjoys the moment all the same. It’s comforting. It’s quiet, but says so much.

Pulling back after a long moment, Catra smirks up into Adora’s widened eyes. “You’re an idiot, and I love you,” she says decisively, laying her other hand on Adora’s breastbone. “This is one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me.”

A blush flares in Adora’s cheeks and she can’t help but blink away. “Psh, I think rescuing you from Prime and raising you from the dead ranks a little higher.”

“Yeah, but that’s a big thing,” murmurs Catra, fiddling with the collar of Adora’s jacket in a way that is innocent enough yet incredibly distracting. “A hero thing. This is a small thing, but small isn’t bad. You didn’t have to do this.”

“I didn’t have to rescue you either,” Adora points out.

“Please,” scoffs Catra, “like you could have lived with yourself if you hadn’t.”

Adora opens her mouth to argue, but she knows whatever comes out of it will be a lie. Shaking her head with a resigned chuckle, she asks, “Why are we even fighting about this?”

“We’re not fighting, we’re bickering - there’s a difference,” Catra asserts with a grin. “And because it’s fun.” She kisses Adora’s cheek with finality, but before she can fully pull away Adora catches her arm and tugs her back in.

“You know what else is fun?” she asks, the crackling energy darkening her blue eyes answering the question for her.

A throaty chuckle bursts from Catra’s lips and she acquiesces, leaning back in for another kiss. Adora hums into it, hands trailing down Catra’s arms to her hips. When she pulls them forward, tight against her own body, Catra giggles against the corner of her mouth. “See, I knew bickering gets you hot.”

Adora’s eyes narrow, her lips halfway into a pout. “Were you trying to turn me on?”

“No, I was trying to irritate you,” teases Catra, smirking and giving Adora’s cute little nose a tiny boop. “Turning you on is just a pleasant side effect.”

“You’re insufferable,” huffs Adora, but her eyes have already dropped back to Catra’s lips.

“I know.” Catra smiles, a genuine one this time, brushing some stray hairs from Adora’s obnoxiously large forehead. Reconnecting their lips, she purrs into the kiss as she threads her fingers through the short golden locks.

“You do like the hair,” murmurs Adora, sighing in half pleasure and half relief as Catra detaches to leave a trail of kisses along her jaw.

“Mm, of course I do. I liked it the old way too, more to pull, but this…” Catra rakes her fingers through Adora’s hair again, claws scraping her scalp in a way that makes her groan quietly. When those fingers squeeze into a fist, yanking on her follicles, she moans much less quietly.

Adora wants to fight back, to reclaim a little dignity, but she’s already halfway losing her mind. “I… I hoped you would,” she manages to reply despite the very distracting nibbles on her unprotected earlobe. That’s gonna take some getting used to, too. Catra’s usually wrecked her ponytail by this point in a kiss, giving her ears some measure of protection. “It’s so hot on you I only hoped I’d look half as good.”

Catra gives a raspy little laugh, her wet and warm breath against Adora’s ear making her gasp. “Flattery isn’t going to get you in my pants, princess.”

There’s her opportunity. Snorting aloud, Adora cocks a pompous eyebrow. “Not like I need help.”

Catra’s eyes narrow. Oh, Adora’s gonna pay for that.

Grabbing Adora’s waist with a sudden ferocity, Catra spins them around and shoves Adora toward the bed. She stumbles backward, falling flat on her back when her calves hit the edge. Catra takes her time prowling closer, leering down at her stunned prey. Gods, that new look really is attractive. Catra’s always loved playing with Adora’s hair, and this will take some getting used to, but she doesn’t mind. Not when she looks like this. Not when she’s looking _at her_ like this, jaw slack and eyes wide in wonder.

Planting her hands on either side of Adora’s hips, Catra flashes a wicked grin.

“Hey, Adora.”

**Author's Note:**

> There may be a part 2 later about them growing their hair back out like in the post, but I make no guarantees. Subscribe anyway if you're interested in being alerted, just in case.


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